Do i really need a 7200 RPM hd?

[iEric]

Hey, just wondering...if I upgrade a powerbook or a MBP to a hard drive that runs at 7200 RPM...

1) how much of a difference will i see in terms of a speed increase?
2) how much will it affect battery life?
3) is it worth the cost of the upgrade?

 

[w8ing4intelmacs]

Hey, just wondering...if I upgrade a powerbook or a MBP to a hard drive that runs at 7200 RPM...

1) how much of a difference will i see in terms of a speed increase?
2) how much will it affect battery life?
3) is it worth the cost of the upgrade?

search is your friend.

 

[Heb1228]

1. If I had to estimate a figure, I'd say overall system speed will probably increase around 5%. Some things will see a larger speed bump, maybe even up to 15% like opening apps/hard drive intensive stuff.

2. Battery life is not affected by faster hard drives.

3. Depends on how badly you want a 5% speed boost.

 

[mad jew]

Listen to Heb1228. However, tell us what you'll be using the machine for and we might be able to give you a more personalised answer. I agree that the system might speed up 5%, but if you're using this machine for heavy duty video editing then that number is irrelevant but the proportional increase in speed in your video editing would justify the faster drive.

Did that make any sense?

 

[Demon Hunter]

You know you want it. 7200rpm, just think of it!

 

[~Shard~]

search is your friend.

I'm sure iEric appreciates that extremely helpful reply.

Let me offer a couple suggestions/comments:

A test was done a few months ago comparing the battery usage between a notebook with a 7200 rpm and a 5400 rpm HDD, and the difference in power consumption was minimal, so I wouldn't be too worried about that. Yes, there will be more power being used, obviously, but not a great deal. So, in that respect, there would be nothing wrong with going to the 7200 rpm drive.

That being said, the 5400 rpm drive is fine for almost anything you do day-to-day, unless you are heavy into video or audio work.

As for a speed increase, it depends what you are using the machine for, but in general, you should notice a definite speed increase - I have read posts from members on this forum stating they have upgraded 4200 rpm drives to 7200 rpm drives have have noticed significant improvements, so I assume going form a 5400 rpm drive to a 7200 rpm drive would produce similar, albeit not as significant, results.

Lastly, cost. Again, it comes down to what you plan on using the system for. Is this a really big deal for you? Otherwise the extra money might be better spent on upgrading the RAM or something along those lines.

 

[Heb1228]

You know you want it. 7200rpm, just think of it!

I'd personally get the cheapest HD available and then upgrade it myself with a 160GB or larger when those drives come out at 7200 RPM... likely by the end of the year. My 120GB drive is feeling pretty small these days.

 

[powerbook911]

It is a tough call. If it is going to be your main system, you might consider 7200 RPM. The hard drive speed is the one thing that can separate the MacBook Pro from a desktop equal or not. Its features match or beat the iMacs for example, so if you have an equally fast hard drive, it matches that too.

 

[Mr. DG]

Check here:

link

It shows that everyday tasks dont benefit or are worse with the faster drive. BUT working with large files (audio, video) really do benefit from the 7200rpm.

But what it also shows is that the lack of firewire800 support for external drives on the mbp was a STOOPID thing to do. look at those speeds on the powerbook!

(thanks to kid beyond on the ableton forum for finding that link)

 

[w8ing4intelmacs]

I'm sure iEric appreciates that extremely helpful reply.

yeah, like this topic has never been discussed before. iEric must be the first person to ever ask the question about the difference between 5400rpm and 7200rpm drives. and the responses that have been given have never been thought of before. so, you're probably right. this amazingly original question with entirely new never before thought of responses absolutely requires a new thread. (heavy sarcasm intended).

which is better: to give a hungry man a fish or to teach a hungry man how to fish?

here are the results of a title search for "7200"
search results

 

[~Shard~]

here are the results of a title search for "7200"
search results

Whoa, calm down, didn't you see the after my post? That means I was just kidding around. No need to get all defensive over such a little thing!

That being said, even just providing that link would have been more helpful than your original reply.

 

[kretzy]

I think everyone around here needs to chill a little at the moment. There seems to be a lot of tension and angriness.

Edit: I'll add some relevance to the thread. I agree with ~Shard~'s earlier points. It will obviously have some speed benefits, but at the end of the day it depends on how much you what to spend compared to how important speed is to you. Personally I would get the 5400 to save money because I don't really have a need for the extra speed.

 

[The Senator]

yo whats up everyone,

I love my 7200 rpm harddrive on my macbookpro. This thing screams, music opens with no lag at all. I work with a lot of video and this thing opens it all up extremely fast. I love this thing. I also play a lot of bf2 on my macbookpro and the load time is really fast.


~the senator

 

[w8ing4intelmacs]

just providing that link would have been more helpful than your original reply.

i disagree. i think leaving a hint that the op should do a search is better than spoonfeeding him. but obviously he didn't take the hint, so i gave him the link. people like you and max make lazy people like the op even lazier.

 

[~Shard~]

i disagree. i think leaving a hint that the op should do a search is better than spoonfeeding him. but obviously he didn't take the hint, so i gave him the link. people like you and max make lazy people like the op even lazier.

Perhaps from now on, in the hundreds of threads which people start here on MacRumors in which they ask for help, the Mods should just auto-generate a reply in the thread saying, "Use the search function. Thank you, have a nice day" and close the thread.

Seriously, yeah, I know what you mean, but I should hope that the guy knows how to use the search function, that's pretty intuitive! It's akin to saying, "Do a Google search, I'm sure something will come up". But hey, you never know.

It's all good - after all, I've referred many posters to existing threads myself - no need to reinvent the wheel.

 

[w8ing4intelmacs]

Perhaps from now on, in the hundreds of threads which people start here on MacRumors in which they ask for help, the Mods should just auto-generate a reply in the thread saying, "Use the search function. Thank you, have a nice day" and close the thread.

Actually, that's not a bad idea. But instead of an autogenerated reply, when you hit submit, there should be a dialog box that asks if you tried to do a search first.

 

[~Shard~]

Actually, that's not a bad idea. But instead of an autogenerated reply, when you hit submit, there should be a dialog box that asks if you tried to do a search first.

Which lots of people would probably ignore anyway, just like the FAQ, Guides and Stickies the Forum already has....

Anyway, we're OT here and I think we've made our points. It's all good.